Parnes People

BBC Radio 2

Malcolm McLaren tells story of the original ‘pop music svengali’ Larry Parnes.

The prototype rock’n’roll manager and impresario of the late 1950s and 1960s, he was probably the most important non-performing figure in the development of popular music in Britain. Parnes ran a “stable” of stars – all bearing a unique badge of his ownership, a new and often eccentric rock’n’roll name that he coined for each of them. This is a story of cutthroat showbiz and sharp practice.

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